


Ex Machina

by DoreyG



Category: Xenoblade Chronicles
Genre: Family Feels, Gen, Mid-Game
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-17
Updated: 2020-10-17
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:20:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 796
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27060352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DoreyG/pseuds/DoreyG
Summary: “I still can’t believe that you’re alive.”
Relationships: Dunban & Fiora (Xenoblade Chronicles)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 8
Collections: Shipoween 2020 - The Halloween Ship Exchange!





	Ex Machina

**Author's Note:**

  * For [The_Exile](https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Exile/gifts).



“I still can’t believe that you’re alive.”

“I can’t really believe that I’m alive either.” She smiles, sparing a brief glance at Dunban and then going back to examining the machinery on her arms. “It seems like I was dreaming for so long, and then I woke up and I’m finally me again.”

“Must be strange. Good, but strange.” Dunban shifts a little closer to her, waits patiently until she stops examining herself and looks at him again. “How does it feel?”

“Being awake again?”

“I suppose so, in part, but mainly…” Dunban hesitates for a second, and then gestures at her arm. The cold metal, melding into soft human flesh. “How does it feel, being half Mechon now?”

She goes back to studying herself in silence for a long few moments, uncertain quite how to explain how she feels. It’s new and strange, complicated and confusing even to her. She doesn’t know how to put her thoughts into any sort of sensible order, let alone words, and she finds herself slightly terrified that she’s going to seriously hurt the people she loves most as a result.

“Fiora?”

But this is _Dunban_. Her big brother, her father figure, one of her best friends for as long as she can remember. He’s never judged her, not even once. Even when she was a kid, getting into endless scrapes with Reyn and Shulk and getting yelled at just as frequently, he always seemed to understand and take her side.

“It should feel horrible,” she confesses softly, still looking more at her arm instead of at his face. “And scary and awful, and all those sort of things. I don’t even remember it being done to me, so surely I should hate that I woke up with metal on my body and my humanity entirely taken away from me.”

Dunban doesn’t yell, doesn’t even look particularly confused. He only smiles slightly, reaches out to twine their fingers together. “But it doesn’t?”

“No, it doesn’t.” She finally lifts her chin, looks her brother straight in the eye. She can be brave, especially here. “I’m not scared, I don’t feel awful. Instead I find myself feeling eager, almost excited. I’m much weaker than I’ve ever been, but also much stronger. I’m walking into a whole new world, a whole new way of being, and yet I feel like I’m coming home. It just feels… Right.”

Dunban stares at her for a long moment, but still doesn’t seem particularly angry. He only keeps holding on to her, willing to remain by her side no matter what she’s saying.

“I feel like I’m finally able to protect people, to fight for the ones that I love just as they’ve always fought for me.” She frowns a little, her heart pounding uncomfortably in her chest as she awaits his reaction. “Does that sound odd?”

“Not particularly,” Dunban says softly, breaking any attempt at a fraught silence between them. His eyes are kind and his smile is warm, as he tightens his grip ever so slightly on her hand. “You were always strong, Fiora, and always incredibly brave. But I know you always worried that you lagged behind all of us, that you didn’t have as much to contribute. If this gets you to see the truth, then I suppose it can’t be all that bad a thing.”

“You mean it?” She asks. She can’t really cry anymore, something strange that the mechon did to her in an attempt to stop any rusting, but she feels a prickle at the corner of her eye nonetheless. “You really don’t mind that I’m… Well, like _this_?”

“Of course I don’t,” Dunban says soothingly, and smiles at her so calmly that she feels - just as she has since she was a toddler, and he smiled at her when she skinned her knee - that maybe everything is going to turn out alright after all. “You may have some mechon parts, but you’re still the same Fiora inside. And nothing is going to change that, or how much I care about you.”

“You’re the best big brother in the world,” she says, slightly overcome, and falls against him. She has to be more careful with how she hugs him now, she’s technically capable of crushing a normal human being what with all her upgrades, but she still manages a rough approximation of a tight squeeze.

“And you’re the best little sister,” Dunban says firmly. He can’t hug her back, his arm still hangs stiffly by his side, but he does lean into her and rest his head securely on top of hers. “And believe me, Fiora, no matter what I am so, _so_ glad that you’re alive.”

She hugs him tight, until the urge to cry just about fades away.


End file.
